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Audit: One doctor certified 11,800 cannabis patients

Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press
Published 9:33 a.m. ET Nov. 3, 2016

The State of Michigan did not properly audit physician certifications for Michigan medical marijuana cards and one physician certified 11,810 patients – 14% of the total, according to a new audit.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

LANSING The State of Michigan did not properly audit physician certifications for Michigan medical marijuana cards and one physician certified 11,810 patients – 14% of the total, according to a new audit.

The report released Thursday by Michigan Auditor General found that 22 other physicians certified a combined 46,854 medical marijuana patients, or 56% of the total for the 2015 fiscal year.

Those numbers raise concerns about "fraudulent physician certification forms," and point to a need for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which administers the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program, to "improve its process to verify physician certifications."

In a response, the department said it agreed with the recommendation and implemented a random audit of physician certifications on Sept. 28.

The audit didn't identify the physicians or explicitly state that fraud was committed.

But it said doctors who certify a medical marijuana card must have a "bona fide physician-patient relationship," in which appointments are made and more appointments are reasonably expected to be made in the future.

Thee doctor who certified 11,810 patients in 2015, based on a 261-day work year, would have had to see an average of 45 patients per day, the report said.

The 22 other doctors who certified a combined 46,854 marijuana cards would have had to see an average of eight patients per day, the report said.

A 2014 survey by The Physicians Foundation found that most primary care physicians in the U.S. see an average of 11 to 20 patients per day, the report said.

In all, 1,419 Michigan doctors reported having a bona-fide doctor-patietnt relationship with a medical marijuana patient in 2015, the report said.

The department receives about 450 medical marijuana card applications a day, the audit said. The department processed nearly all applications in a timely manner, the audit said.